by ear. [He] also played ragtime piano solos on gigs. We were together from 1952 until 1955, but somewhat spasmodically because of National Service." After leaving the military, he worked in banking for a short period, before pursuing his musical career in earnest. Career In the late fifties O'Brien formed a duo, "The Kensington Squares", with folk musician Tim Feild, whom he had met while playing clubs in Belgravia, London. His younger sister, Mary O'Brien, was at the time performing as one of the Lana Sisters, and when that group folded in 1960, he invited her to join him and Tim to form a new folk-pop vocal trio, the Springfields. O'Brien adopted the stage name Tom Springfield while Mary became Dusty Springfield (Dusty was a nickname given to her when she had played football in the street with the local boys). O'Brien, now Springfield, sang and played guitar. Mike Hurst replaced Feild in 1962. Five of the group's singles were UK Top 40 hits between 1961 and 1963, and two of them reached No. 5 in the charts. These were "Island of Dreams", written and composed by Springfield, and "Say I Won't Be There", the melody of which was adapted by him from the traditional French song "Au clair de la lune" to accompany his new lyrics. The group was also successful in the US, particularly with their version of "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" which reached No. 20 on Billboard's Hot 100. This was the first single by a British group to reach the top 20 of the Hot 100. "Island of Dreams" was later covered by Mick Thomas, Johnny Tillotson, Mary Hopkin, Geraint Watkins with Martin Belmont, and by the Seekers. After the Springfields broke up in 1963 when Dusty began her solo career, Springfield became a record producer and songwriter for the Australian folk-pop group the Seekers. He wrote many of their major hits including their first UK number one, "I'll Never Find Another You", followed by "A World of Our Own", and the million-selling "The Carnival Is Over", the melody of which Springfield adapted from the Russian song "Stenka Razin", though he wrote entirely new lyrics. Other hits included "Walk With Me", and "Georgy Girl", co-written with Jim Dale, who supplied the lyrics. This was the Seekers' most successful release in the US, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the